Great Barrier Airlines to serve Kaitaia

AT YOUR SERVICE: The Cessna Caravan 208B that Great Barrier Airlines will fly from Kaitaia to Auckland.

Offers to replace Air New Zealand were made within hours of Air New Zealand declaring last year that it would abandon its Kaitaia-Auckland service in April. Four independent airlines expressed interest, and yesterday Far North Holdings announced it had picked a winner.

The Far North District Council has chosen Great Barrier Airlines, which will fly a smaller plane than Eagle Air's but is promising a much improved timetable.

Kaitaia's business and tourism communities have welcomed the news, particularly because the new service will offer three flights a day, the first departing at 7.30am. One of the gripes about Air NZ was that the morning flight left too late, forcing business people to fly from Kerikeri if they wanted a full day in Auckland.

Great Barrier Airlines chief executive Mark Roberts said the company would start with a flat fare of $180 each way, rather than the complicated fare structure offered by Air NZ. Children aged 2 to 12 would pay $108, while infants would travel free.

The company was buying a 12-seater Cessna Grand Caravan from Australia for the Kaitaia route. A nine-seat Piper Chieftain would serve as backup until a second Caravan arrived.

Mr Roberts believed the company could make a go of the route because it had lower overheads than Air NZ, and its aircraft were less expensive to run.

Great Barrier Airlines may have had the edge over the other contenders because it was able to offer three flights a day at a reasonable price, while the company was well acquainted with Northland; it already flew four days a week between Whangarei and Kaitaia for the Northland District Health Board. In the past it had also used the airstrip at Haruru Falls.

"The North is part of the country we feel comfortable with," Mr Roberts said. The only other new route they had considered was Auckland-Whakatane, but that has been won by Air Chathams.

The company had yet to decide whether to fly the Kaitaia route as Great Barrier Airlines or under another name.

It currently flies between Great Barrier, Whangarei, Auckland, North Shore, Whitianga and Tauranga with three nine-seater Piper Chieftains, a Partenavia and a Britten-Norman Islander. It also has a number of three-engined Trislanders.

Far North Holdings chief executive Andy Nock said Air NZ's announcement last year caused a great deal of concern, so he was delighted Great Barrier Airlines had stepped forward to fill the gap, while Mayor John Carter said daily flights between Kaitaia and Auckland were vital to the district's economic development. He encouraged Northlanders to support the new service.

-Weekday flights will leave Auckland for Kaitaia at 6am, 12.30pm and 5.30pm, and depart Kaitaia at 7.30am, 2pm and 7pm. Weekend flights will depart Auckland at 9.30am and 5pm, and Kaitaia at 11am and 6.30pm. Once the service starts bookings will be available via www.greatbarrierairlines.co.nz